Compendium on the Legal Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Africa

U04171136

Sujets

• Droit
• JUSTICE

Informations

• Publié par: PULP (Pretoria University Law Press)
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781920538859
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

This compilation of documents has been prepared by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, with the assistance of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. The aim of this compilation is to bring together all the most relevant documents concerning the protection of human rights defenders in Africa, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the African Union. This publication, which appears for the first time in 2018, is timely for two particular reasons: The year 2018 marks 20 years since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In 2018, human rights across the world, and in Africa, have increasingly made the target of government attack and recrimination.

Pretoria University Law Press PULP www.pulp.up.ac.za

ISBN: 978-1-920538-85-9

Compendium on the legal protection of human rights defenders in Africa

PULP

Compendium on the legal protection of human rights defenders in Africa

Compendium on the legal protection of human rights defenders in Africa

Prepared by Commissioner Prof Rémy Ngoy Lumbu Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

in collaboration with the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria

2018

This compilation of documents has been prepared by the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Commissioner Rémy Ngoy Lumbu, with the assistance of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. The aim of this compilation is to bring together all the most relevant documents concerning the protection of human rights defenders in Africa, adopted under the auspices of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Union, the OSCE and the African Union. This publication, which appears for the first time in 2018, is timely for two particular reasons: The year 2018 marks 20 years since the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. In 2018, human rights defenders across the world, and in Africa, have increasingly been made the target of government attack and recrimination.

ISBN:978-1-920538-85-9 Printed and bound by:Minit Print, Hatfield To order, contact: PULP, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa, 0002, Tel: [phone], Email: [e-mail], www.pulp.up.ac.za Cover:DK Igbo, Centre for Human Rights Compiled by the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria © 2018

Table of contents

Preface by Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.................................................. v Commissioner Prof Rémy Ngoy Lumbu

A. Declarations and Guidelines UNITED NATIONS Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1998 ................ 2 AFRICAN UNION – AFRICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS Grand Bay (Mauritius) Declaration and Plan of Action, 1999 .................... 10 Kigali Declaration, 2003 ................................................................. 18 Guidelines on Freedom of Association and Assembly in Africa, 2017 ........... 25 COUNCIL OF EUROPE Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Council of Europe action to improve the protection of human rights defenders and promote their activities, 2008 ....................................................................... 47 EUROPEAN UNION Ensuring Protection – European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, 2008 ...................................................................... 51 ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, 2016 ................. 57

B. Resolutions United Nations (UN) Resolution Resolution 68/181: Promotion of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility on Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Protecting Women Human Rights Defenders, 2013 ...................................................................... 84 African Union (AU) Resolutions Resolution 69: Resolution on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Africa, 2004 ........................................................................ 94 Resolution 104: Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Africa, 2007 ........................................................................ 96 Resolution 273: Resolution on Extending the Scope of the Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders in Africa, 2014 ....... 98 Resolution 275: Resolution on Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity, 2014 ....................100 Resolution 336: Resolution on Measures to Protect and Promote the Work of Women Human Rights Defenders, 2016 .............................102 Resolution 345: Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Africa, 2016 .......................................................................105 Resolution 376: Resolution on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders in Africa, 2017 .......................................................................107 Resolution 381: Resolution on the Appointment of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, 2017 ...........................................................110

C. Model Law Model Law for the Recognition and Protection of Human Rights Defenders, 2017 .....................................................................114

Preface

Human rights only make sense if two conditions are met. In the first place, victims must be able to seek remedies when their rights have been violated. In the second place, there must be people capable of taking up the cause of those whose rights have been violated. There are two premises along the two major axes in international human rights law. The first is the justiciability, reviewability, controllability or verifiability of these rights. The second is the relevant law and the availability of persons who ensure the exercise of these rights. This Compendium is written in the framework of the rights of human rights defenders, more specifically the legal protection of these human rights defenders. As the whole world celebrates, on 9 December 2018, twenty years of the existence of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, also known as the ‘United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders’, it is opportune to bring together a holistic tool that is as up-to-date as possible, and to make it available to human rights defenders and others, with a view to usefully and effectively supporting the rights of human rights defenders. Signatory states to declarations and state parties to international treaties are the first defenders of human rights. Their failures in the field have led individuals to take up the issue. Today, we find human rights defenders in the public or state sector (including Heads of State, Ministers, Parliamentarians, Magistrates and civil servants), as well as in the private sector (men, women and children). This collection is intended to be a toolbox to support the implementation of human rights policies by human rights defenders in the public or state sector (in eg drafting laws, draft laws or regulatory acts); and to support human rights defenders in the private sector in finding resources to defend their work when their actions provoke reprisals by Government agents. Based on Resolution 69 of 2004 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the fifth pillar of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa is indeed about ‘raising awareness and promoting the implementation of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders in Africa’.

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This text, which dates from 9 December 1998, is rightly considered the basic matrix from which the legal rights of human rights defenders was born. It inaugurates a collective consciousness that has since then had an impact both nationally and internationally. Since 1998, the African Union has produced two Declarations, the first in 1999 (‘Grand Bay Declaration and Action Plan’) and the second in 2003 (‘Kigali Declaration’). This legal framework is reinforced by the Guidelines on Freedom of Association (2017). The Council of Europe, through its Council of Ministers, on 6 February 2008, adopted an important document titled ‘Declaration of the Committee of Ministers on Council of Europe action to improve the protection of human rights defenders and promote their activities’. The European Union is also included. Since 8 December 2008, it has had also the ‘EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders’ in place. In addition, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe published its 2016 ‘Guidelines on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders’. In the same vein, complementing these Declarations and Guidelines, legal protection for human rights defenders emerges from the resolutions of the African Union (African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights) and United Nations (General Assembly). Example are: Resolution 69 of 2004 creating the mandate of the Special Rapporteur; and Resolution 273 on the extension of the mandate of this Rapporteur. Other resolutions place special emphasis on vulnerable human rights defenders. Examples are: Resolution 104, which protects human rights defenders during election time; Resolution 275, dealing with the protection against violence and other human rights violations on the basis of real or assumed gender identity or sexual orientation; and Resolution 336 on measures to protect and promote the work of women human rights defenders. At the level of the United Nations, General Assembly Resolution 68/81 on women human rights defenders is the main reference tool in this field. However, some vulnerable advocates, in particular children, remain unprotected. There are still important challenges at this level, and there indeed is a missing link. We all have a collective responsibility, in the exercise of our professional responsibilities, to ensure that child human rights defenders are also protected and respected. Finally, this right human rights defenders to protection increasingly comes under national laws and regulations. A specialised corpus juris is gradually emerging from the African states. International law for the defense of human rights defenders is intended to be domesticated. West Africa is a pioneer in this area. The Ivory Coast (2014), Burkina Faso (2017) and Mali (2018) have

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provided their countries with laws on human rights defenders. Other regions should follow suit with this revolution in the protection of human rights defenders, based on the Model Law for the Recognition and Protection of Human Rights Defenders, which the Commission has made available to the Member States, with the help of its partners, including the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR-SIDH). As there are no official English translations of these national laws, these texts are only included in the French version of thisCompendium. The right of defense of the human rights defender has matured in Africa today. My hope is that it would gain in application and lead to the improvement of the well-being of Africans in all 55 AU member states. In conclusion, I would like to thank Professor Frans Viljoen of the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria (South Africa) for the valuable collaboration that the Centre provided in the publication of this commemorative book marking 20 years of the United Nations Declarations on human rights defenders.

Prof Rémy Ngoy Lumbu Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and Focal Point on Reprisals in Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

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A. Declarations and Guidelines

2 Compendium on the legal protection of human rights defenders in Africa

United Nations: Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 1998

Adopted by General Assembly Resolution 53/144 of 9 December 1998

The General Assembly, Reaffirming the importance of the observance of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations for the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons in all countries of the world,

Reaffirming also the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenants on Human Rights as basic elements of international efforts to promote universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the importance of other human rights instruments adopted within the United Nations system, as well as those at the regional level,

Stressing that all members of the international community shall fulfil, jointly and separately, their solemn obligation to promote and encourage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of any kind, including distinctions based on race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, and reaffirming the particular importance of achieving international cooperation to fulfil this obligation according to the Charter,

Acknowledging the important role of international cooperation for, and the valuable work of individuals, groups and associations in contributing to, the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals, including in relation to mass, flagrant or systematic violations such as those resulting from apartheid, all forms of racial discrimination, colonialism, foreign domination or occupation, aggression or